Obama warns Syria’s Assad not to use chemical weapons

An injured Syrian student lies at a hospital bed after he was wounded when a mortar hit the al-Batiha school in al-Wafideen camp, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) northeast of Damascus, Syria, on Dec. 4, 2012. The mortar slammed into a ninth-grade classroom, killing 29 students and a teacher, according to state media, as the civil war closed in on President Bashar Assad's seat of power. (Associated Press/SANA)

Syrians and Jordanians carry the body of Moath al-Rawashdy, 30, who was killed by Syrian forces shelling, during his funeral procession in Ramtha City, north of Amman, Jordan, on Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012. Al-Rawashdy was killed in Tafas village, in the Syrian city of Daraa, on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012. (AP Photo/Mohammad Hannon)

In this citizen journalist image, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, anti-Syrian-regime mourners carry the coffins of Syrian civilians who were killed by the shelling of forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar Assad, in Homs, Syria, on Monday, Dec. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Lens Yong Homsi)

President Obama speaks at the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction (CTR) symposium at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington on Monday, Dec. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

A boy injured by shrapnel receives treatment in a makeshift clinic during heavy fighting between Free Syrian Army fighters and government forces in Aleppo, Syria, on Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)

A Free Syrian Army fighter aims his weapon during clashes with government forces in Aleppo, Syria, on Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)

Smoke rises from buildings during heavy fighting between Free Syrian Army fighters and government forces in Aleppo, Syria, on Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)

A Syrian rebel fighter fires his weapon during clashes with Syrian army forces on the outskirts of Idlib, Syria, on Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012. (AP Photo/ Khalil Hamra)

Syrian rebel fighters stand on a tank they took after storming a military base in Aleppo, Syria, on Monday, Nov. 19, 2012. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)

A man collects his belongings after his home was damaged in heavy fighting between Free Syrian Army fighters and government forces in Aleppo, Syria, on Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)

After months of resisting military involvement in Syria’s bloody civil war, President Obama on Monday issued a stern warning to Syrian leader Bashar Assad not to use chemical weapons against his own citizens.

The White House said recent actions by Mr. Assad’s government, and U.S. and allied intelligence reports detecting activity around more than one of Syria’s chemical weapons sites last week, are fueling worries that Mr. Assad would try to end his country’s civil war by unleashing such weapons on rebel forces.

Directing his statements to Mr. Assad, Mr. Obama asserted that the U.S. and other allies would not tolerate his use of chemical weapons.

“Today I want to make it absolutely clear to Assad and those under his command: The world is watching. The use of chemical weapons is and would be totally unacceptable,” Mr. Obama said during a nuclear-threat reduction symposium at the National Defense University. “If you made the tragic mistake of using these weapons, there will be consequences and you will be held accountable.”

The comments came as clashes between rebels and government forces near the Syrian capital of Damascus intensified Monday, forcing one inbound commercial jet to turn back.

Also Monday, the United Nations ordered its non-essential international staff to leave Syria because of increased violence and security threats around Damascus. In the past few weeks fighting in Syria, which have already taken 40,000 lives in 20 months of conflict, have been the most serious in the capital since July.

The political terrain also appears to be shifting with conflicting reports that the spokesman for Syria’s foreign ministry, Jihad Makdissi, flew from Beirut to London and was either fired or defected. Also on Monday, government officials in Turkey gathered in Istanbul with President Vladimir Putin of Russia, focused on the Syrian crisis.

White House spokesman Jay Carney earlier Monday warned that Syria’s use of chemical weapons would cross a “red line” for the United States, a sentiment Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had expressed the same day in Prague.

With Mr. Assad’s regime growing increasingly beleaguered and desperate, Mr. Carney voiced concern that the Syrian leader would consider using those weapons as a last-ditch attempt to regain control of the country.

“We do believe that with the regime’s grip on power loosening, with its failure to put down the opposition through conventional means, we have an increased concern about the possibility of the regime taking the desperate act of using its chemical weapons,” Mr. Carney said.

While visiting the capital of the Czech Republic, Mrs. Clinton said she didn’t want to “telegraph” the specifics of how the U.S. would react to a chemical attack in Syria.

“Suffice it to say, we are certainly planning to take action if that eventuality were to occur,” she said.

Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s use of chemical weapons against Kurdish and Shiite populations was one factor, among others, used to justify the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Syria has tried to quell international fears that it would use chemical weapons against its own people, even as it carefully avoided saying whether it has any on hand. Its Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement Monday via state television that Syria “would not use chemical weapons — if there are any — against its own people under any circumstances.”

The Syrian government has long denied possessing chemical weapons, but the U.S. and its allies believe it has stockpiles or has the components to reconstitute active chemical weapons quickly.

About the Author

Susan Crabtree is an award-winning investigative reporter with more than 15 years of reporting experience in Washington, D.C. Her reporting about bribery, corruption and conflict-of-interest issues on Capitol Hill has led to several FBI and ethics investigations, as well as consequences for members within their caucuses and at the ballot box. Susan can be reached at scrabtree@washingtontimes.com.